Sensex tumbles by 304 points on last day of 2019, Reliance falls by 1.83 pc

Equity benchmark indices closed in the red on Tuesday as lacklustre trading amid mixed global cues pushed investors towards profit booking on the last trading day of calendar year 2019.

The BSE S & P Sensex closed 304 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 41,254 while the Nifty 50 slipped by 87 points at 12,168. Experts said the market is likely to remain range-bound in the absence of any major triggers.

Except for Nifty metal and realty, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the negative zone with Nifty media tumbling by 1.46 per cent, private bank by 0.65 per cent and IT by 0.78 per cent.

Among stocks, Zee Entertainment was the top loser with a fall of 3.57 per cent to Rs 292 per share. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries slipped by 1.83 per cent to Rs 1,516 per share.

Auto majors Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors and Hero MotoCorp lost by 2.2 per cent, 1.69 per cent and 1.33 per cent respectively while IT giants Tech Mahindra and Wipro fell by 2.75 per cent and 1.14 per cent.

The other prominent losers were Vedanta, IndusInd Bank and Bharti Infratel. However, those which showed marginal gains were Coal India, NTPC, GAIL, Grasim and Tata Motors.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed as investors locked in gains made since the United States and China reached a preliminary trade deal earlier this month.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained by 1.3 per cent but Shanghai Composite dropped a bit by 0.08 per cent. Markets in Japan and South Korea were closed for a holiday.

Reports said the White House's trade adviser said on Monday that the US-China phase one trade deal will likely be signed in the next week but the confirmation will come from President Donald Trump or the US Trade Representative.